A federal lawsuit claiming Southlake-based Gateway Church and founding pastor Robert Morris committed financial fraud with church members' donations has been dismissed.
In court filings Tuesday, federal judge Amos Mazzant sided with the megachurch and Morris' argument that courts could not involve themselves in church matters or how they spend tithes under the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine — a legal principle derived from the First Amendment protecting religious institutions from government interference.
The suit was filed in October 2024 by a group of church members claiming Morris and other Gateway leaders told their congregation 15%, or $15 million of its $100 million annual church revenue, would be distributed to global missions and Jewish ministry partners. But the former church members accused the megachurch of not upholding that promise and weren't sure where the donations actually went.
The suit claimed Morris former senior pastor Steve Dulin promised in past sermons congregants could get their money back if they were unhappy.
But the court cannot in any way control what was said at a sermon during a religious meeting, Mazzant said in court filings.
"[T]his analysis may have been different if Plaintiffs had alleged that Morris, Dulin, or any other Gateway leader reallocated their tithe dollars for personal gain," Mazzant wrote. "But this is not the case."
An amended version of the suit last October also accused Gateway of violating racketeering, or RICO laws, through mail and wire fraud. They claimed the megachurch sent mail, emails and went to other church campuses out of state to commit the fraud. That claim was also dismissed.
Ron Breaux, an attorney representing Gateway, said in a statement he's grateful over the court's decision.
“Plaintiffs sought to second-guess Gateway’s beliefs and decisions on the fundamental religious question of tithing," Breaux said. "The First Amendment prohibits such an assault on Gateway’s religious autonomy and freedom."
KERA News reached to the attorney for the church members and will update this story with any response.
Tuesday's decision comes after a judge last September denied Gateway and Morris' request to be dismissed from the suit. Among several things, Gateway had argued they should be dismissed from the suit because, the former church members did not make a legitimate claim and pointed to the sexual abuse case against Morris as a reason for former members' dissatisfaction.
Morris pleaded guilty last October to five counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child. It stemmed from statements Cindy Clemishire made in June 2024 that Morris sexually abused her in the 1980s. She was 12 and he was 22 and the abuse lasted more than four years. Morris almost immediately resigned from Gateway after Clemishire came forward.
Morris was given a 10-year sentence but was only required to serve six months in an Oklahoma jail, where the abuse took place. He was released at the end of March, is a registered sex offender in Texas and is required to pay Clemishire $270,000.
Gateway and Morris are still in an ongoing civil lawsuit from Clemishire and her father. That suit claims the church defamed her in a series of statements after she came forward about the abuse, knew about it for years and financially benefitted from hiding it.
Penelope Rivera is KERA's Tarrant County Accountability Reporter. Got a tip? Email Penelope Rivera at privera@kera.org.
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